Shelby the Hypocritical Conspiracy Theorist

The latest in recycled GOP talking points is the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama isn’t really an American citizen, all evidence to the contrary. Senator Shelby recently joined discredited right-wing nut Alan Keyes in expressing this theory as plausible.

We can perhaps excuse Keyes for not bringing this up even once during his EPIC FAIL that was his campaign against Obama for the U.S. Senate in 2004. After all, maybe he didn’t even question Obama’s citizenship then, but only had doubts when Obama got closer to taking over the White House.

But Shelby is an entirely different matter. If the Senator from Alabama really believed this theory – which has been floating around the Internet for about a year – then why did he endorse the Electoral College count that certified Obama as the winner? At least when Senator Boxer believed theories about the vote count in Ohio in 2004, she had the guts to protest the Electoral College votes.

Either you have the guts to admit you believe an unproven (and actually debunked) conspiracy theory from the far-right, by preventing a non-American from becoming President. OR you admit to pandering to conservatives and shut your mouth since it reflects how you actually voted when it mattered – when you voted in January to accept the Electoral College’s election of Obama as President.

So far, it just seems like Shelby’s hypocritical conspiracy theorist or a panderer to the far-right – neither of which builds confidence in his elderly mind leading us in the U.S. Senate.

And why can’t the media call him out on this bullshit instead of presenting it as just another question he answered honestly? Because either he voted dishonestly or answered his far-right audience dishonestly. Either way, we can’t trust him.